Irish Open review thread

mewso

Thought I'd get this going. For the boardsies to tell us their Irish Open story. I'm primarily interested in hearing how Gholi went out
Anway these threads have made good reading in the past so it would be nice to hear the stories.

kebabfest

I suggest that Flipper gets the ball rolling

gunner06

kebabfest wrote:

I suggest that Flipper gets the ball rolling

sounds like a plan

poorbarman

couldnt play in this due to forseen work commitments.Roll on the cue clubs springfest:D

connie147

poorbarman wrote:

couldnt play in this due to forseen work commitments.Roll on the cue clubs springfest:D

Well theres a threat of a lot of boardsters making a weekend of it so if they do, it should be great craic.See you then.

Flipper

kebabfest wrote:

I suggest that Flipper gets the ball rolling

I didn't go.

The End

BigCityBanker

lads we have had these in the past and I think they make great reading, il get the ball rolling, ive a bit more than usual to write - I look forward to reading other peoples contributions.

....................................................................

Between a Rock and a Hard Place……

Start of day one im making my way to the table and Mike Lacey points out that Liam Barker will be sitting to my left, didn’t know much about him but Mike confirmed that he was an absolute Rock. I sit down and notice that Brendan Walls is sitting to my right and is button to my BB.

I started out all guns blazing, there was gonna be no stage fright from me. Raising everything from the C/O and Button and firing on later streets to take it down. I expected others were gonna take some time to find there feet and I was gonna take advantage of that. Immediately Brendan Walls raises my BB and I decide he can have this one but he would have to pay for later ones.. So on the very next orbit he raises, I reraise with J2o he calls. I fire 3 barrells and he finds a fold on the river, with the board of A K 10 9 x. Mission 1 acomplished, I now feel ive put down a marker to Brendan that will make my life easier for the rest of the day that we spend together. Afterall – ur man is an internet qualifier in a JCB shirt, probably easy pickings.

I find myself involved in a biggish pot shortly after and have to lay down on the turn when I give my opponent credit for a flopped set, Im now on the back foot and need to regain my momentum.

I can dodge bullets baby, I was supposed to go broke on that hand!!

A few hands later its folded to me in MP, I look down at KK and decide that I have found my opportunity to get some chips.. I limp for 50 expecting action behind, folded to the button who limps and the blinds complete. 4 players see a flop of 9 4 3r and I bet 200, the button makes it 1200 and immediately alarm bells start ringing. If I ever limp a big pair I am always willing to drop to stern resistence. I decide to call and reassess on the turn, there are too many hands that im ahead of to contemplate folding on that flop. Turn 3 pairing the board, now I feel Im likely ahead but err on the side of caution and check, button checks quickly behind, river Qd and im trying to figure out how much I can get paid – Im about to value bet and decide to check call instead. The button checks and turns over AA. Im in shock… The button was an awful player, against a good player I reckon I go broke there 99/100 with all the money in preflop. 30 min into the game I survive a potential car crash, MrPillowFighter tells me im freerolling and to play it up!!

I fold AJ from the BB after Phantom Lord open jams for 5k from MP1, I figure im racing and don’t feel like it, he later tells me he had A6. Nothing much more happens for a while, after the KK v AA hand its hard to remember other stuff. My table gets broken later and im moved, Im not impressed with my new seat, im on the edge of the tourney area facing the cash games and there are too many distractions. Gholli is sitting to my right and I allow him the privelage of raping my BB on the first occasion. By the time im BB again I get moved tables. I play back at an aggressive player named Patrick O’Connor when he raises my BB, The blinds have just gone up and by mistake I effectively min raise him – ooops, he dwells for a moment before jamming. I fold and finish the day on 14,400 in chips, well below average but enough to hurt somebody if they are looking for hurting. I had all my chips in the middle once when if I got called I was forked right up.

Day 2…

Im conscious going back on day 2 that im gonna have to change a few gears after an orbit or so if the deck isn’t hitting me in the face. I thankfully sit tight on the first orbit or so as carnage descends around me. Id be gone 2 or 3 times if I even considered a move. Next time im SB the button open jams for about 6k, iv got 11,700 (how do you remember that? Dunno, I just do), I look down at KcJc, now im not in the fashion of calling anybody’s all in with KJ sooted but I reckon the buttons range here should be massive and he should literally be open jamming with any 2, I call and to my horror he turns over A 10 – I need to hit! I flop a flush draw and the dealer duly bilges on the river to send the other guy packing. Sweet!!

Right so, Iv got c.19k time to change gears for an orbit or two.. Patrick O’Connor raises, I play right back, he folds. Random guy raises.. Whats that? Oh it’s a raise, sorry, I re-raise.. he folds, a good scandie who goes on to finish 45th raises from UTG + 2, this guy is good and I know he can lay down, I apply a bit of pumpage and he fold 88 face up, later that night when play has finished he tells me that my table image was really really good and he had no choice but to fold. Im up to 30k within 10 hands, stay goin… George McKeever gets moved to my right, he raises to 3k, I look down at AJ, study him, reckon he looks pretty uncomfortable, I know he can fold hands so I make it 9k to go, he only has 13000 in total so im effectively telling him I want his chips, damn it, mad scandie guy goes all in for 40k and we all have to fold he had AKs, that put a dent in my stack. JJ v AK aipf for a double up.

Who puts on my make-up?

Playing 39k at my peak when KarlH asks if id like a spin on the TV table, feck it why not – stick me in coach, I wont let you down. KarlH - “do you want to know who is on it?”, mise “Fcuk em, I don’t care, its cards were playing not celebrity spotting”. The DevilFish gets gutted and im into his seat, Surindar Sunaar and Roland DeLuckbox are opposite me, MadScandie with more chips than god is on my right and some dude who owns the Riverside Card Club in Drogheda is also on the table with a very considerable stack.. We don’t see many hands but I lay down AJ twice when I could have made moves – they were good folds on both occasions as I was all wrapped up if I played.

QQ in the SB and Sunar limps UTG, randomer makes it 8k to go (blinds 1/2), folded to me before I ship it, random guy calls me with Js10s – sweet, double up and I get moved back out to the main playing area.

Did you look at them?

Dude from Riverside Card club is SB to my BB and he is calling very very light, Nicky got moved to my left shortly after me and he will confirm how light he was calling raises. He snap called all ins from shorties with K9 and Q8 and sent both packing…

Folded to him in the sb and he open raises to 14k (blinds 2k/4k/500). Im playing c.50k, avg is 80k. Ive not looked at my cards yet, the whole table knows this as they are way out in front of me protected by my magnets. I look at him and we have a little chat that goes something like this

ME “did you look at them or are you raising with any 2?”
Him “Oh no, I looked their good”
ME “good enough to raise with?”
Him “oh yeah”
ME “But can they withstand a reraise?”
Him “just look at your cards and we will know then”

I feel he is weak, I give a tiny squeeze – so tiny ud think I didn’t look at them at all, I see AJ, Im confident that im well ahead of his range..

Me “sure il go all in so”
Him and 2 others on the table in concert “did you look at them at all?”
ME “ah yeah they seem fine”

He dwells before calling off another 36k with Qd9d… Im good for a 110k pot and I don’t look back from here. I continue to try and maintain my stack size, im moved table again and the bubble is burst.

Whippeeeeeeeee!!!! €3,500 is money back for some people buts its pure profit to me. I continue to play my normal game and finish day 2 on 91,500 in chips. 41 players return for day 3, the average is c.170k but when u take out the big stacks im optimistic that im not in that bad a shape at all.

Day 3....

Peter and myself are on the same table, Roland DeWolfe is to my immediate right and straight away he owns me. I never had the opportunity to raise from button or cut-off, he took the privilege of doing that for me knowing right well Im not in a position to play back at him. Finally he raises from the cut-off and im all in on the button with AsQs, he apologises in advance, its another 2bbs for him to call and his 10h7h is good.

The rush has been played – im gone in 35th position for €10k – very very very very nice indeed thank you very much. I got it in good and cant do a lot more than that.

End of…….

So that’s it. I have learned so much from playing this event. When I qualified for this event I immediately decided that I was gonna qualify and play the IPC as I knew I would need the experience, I went out in 67th there and with more experience prior to that event im confident I would have went a lot deeper also. My game improved considerably for playing the IPC and I hope it improves as much again from playing this event. If it does then im gonna make a lot of progress over the next 12 months.

Finally…

Thanks for all the support and best wishes over the last few days. It is much appreciated.

Well done to Nicky and Peter – great performances from the 2 lads, I am really delighted for both of them.

Well done to the guys at Paddy Power, they have put a lot of effort into this and deserve thanks for it. They have taken poker in Ireland to a new frontier with the TV coverag, remember they are targeting the general public and not the poker players with their coverage – It aint simple when you only have a couple of hours to edit the footage.

Sin è.

El Stuntman

nice report BCB!

that AA guy should be shot

WH BONNEY

Good read.

Congratulations on an excellent result.

HiCloy

Nice report and congrats good result

T-b0n3

Well done.. Nice read..

Adam

Rnger

I was supposed to be dealing in this but didnt

Fatboydim

BigCityBanker wrote:

Afterall – ur man is an internet qualifier in a JCB shirt, probably easy pickings.

.

LOL at this... For some reason Bob The Builder is going through my head. Well done BCB. Great report.

kebabfest

I played the super satellite and ran my trips into a straight. The end.
This thread really hasnt gathered any wings has it ?
Is everybody too depressed or what ?

58o

kebabfest wrote:

This thread really hasnt gathered any wings has it ?
Is everybody too depressed or what ?[/QUOTE]

Pretty much. I just checked my bank balance online, and there is E550,000 less in there than i was counting on before the weekend.

BigCityBanker

sorry muso - i didnt see this and started another one in the tourney section.

LuckyLloyd

This post has been deleted.

mewso

No worries I have merged the 2 threads and left them in the main forum which I think is fair enough considering the success of the boardsies.

kincsem

NI poker ... 0 1 ... PSNI (home) .... Belfast
Garda ...... 1 0 ... NI poker (away) .... Drogheda
World II ... 0 1 ... NI poker (away) .... Dublin

5starpool

Don't know why I am bothering but sure, here you go.

On day one my plan was to play my game as normal and try and exploit any spots that came up. Early enough on though I lost a few chips and was fighting a reaarguard action. Cards were not coming in general and I had to make my own action with rubbish. I think there was only one pot in the whole of the first day that I played post flop having actually hit a good piece of it (2 pair or better). At the end of the first day I did not plan on sticking around with a tiny stack, but the quality of my cards coupled with the fact that I would have rarely been the first to enter the pot, meant that I didn't throw in my last 10BB's with the likes of J3o. I ended with only 8k after day one, with average of 27k and blinds moving to 400/800/100. I was never really on a tough table but I had a couple of calling stations who seemed to catch when they needed to early on, and this limited my chances to make moves against the table in general.

Day two though I knew I had to get busy and on the second hand I got a double up through Vincent Melinn. This got me to around 18k, and my highest point of the tournie. A few hands later Christie Smith raised to 2.5k (I don't take that lightly), and the guy to my right (bad player) went all in for about 9k I think. I look down at two beautiful black Aces, so I shove for about 8.5k more. Christy folds and I lose when a 5 hits the flop to match his 55. Great.

The very next hand, the guy who had the 55 limps and I shove for 8.3k with A8o, and when it comes back to him he calls with A4??? After a board of AT776 though it is a split pot. Great.

Then I end up pushing with 66 and against 44 and J8 suited (he was all in for only 1500) I win the side pot. Great.

Then i open push after a couple of folds with J9s only to run into QQ and that is all she wrote. Great.

All the above day 2 action happened in 25 mins, and I tihnk it was the busiest I have been in a long time in a tournie. I think though if I had won that pot with the AA I would have been up to around 30k, and above average for the first time in the event and I like to think I would have given it a good shot after that, but it wasn't to be. I certainly wasn't the only person to get dogged, and as the chief says, that's poker. There was a good atmosphere around the place I though, and I hope I get to try again next year.

phantom_lord

kebabfest wrote:

Is everybody too depressed or what ?

pretty much, I might write one, but it wouldn't be too interesting to read.


I ran QQ into AA for most of stack, and the blinds went through me, next hand I look down at 63o roll my eyes, but it's folded around to me and I ship it hoping no one saw me look at the cards! or they think it's a reverse tell or something....

I'm still in shock at bcb folding ajs on the bb @200/400/25 when I shoved for 3400ish with the a6o a hand or two after!

Fatboydim

I'll do a short report as most of my stuff is up on the PPP site.

Day 1. I was on the back end of an illness and had had the week from hell. Thursday I had a script deadline and I got up from my sick bed to finish of the script only to find that the computer had uploaded some updates and rebooted itself discarding the previous days work which was a complete disaster. So I had to work the nads off and get it done by three o'clock and managed it by 3.30. By 5 I was on the road up to Dublin. I got to my hotel at 9 that evening and then headed in to the Burlo to pick up my PP gear and get a feel of the place. I had two pints and a chin wag and was back at my hotel by 11ish. Then a restless night with hot and cold sweats and the problems with the bum. So I wake up with soiled bed sheets and stuck them in the shower and did as good a job as I could with the coconut shampoo. The chambermaid probably thought I was ****ting Bounty bars.

So not the best prep. My table had Goodluckto me on my right. A couple of tough Scandies and Patric Martensen a Scandie pro with cashes and FT appearances in several EPT events. He looked about twelve.

The First hand I played I got quad tens, but not much action. I also picked up Aces but only got the blinds. I was moving between 12k and 10k for most of the first three levels. Protected my blind against Joe when I thought he raised it one time too many. He said he folded Jacks I showed him A2 off and a completely missed flop. [K46] We enjoyed our tussles. But it was against Patric that I seemed to get most busy.

One hand I was in the cut off and found AJ. I threw in 1500 only to be told that it was twelve to go. So I took out 300. I knew what this looked like to Patric and so felt I had a nicely disguised hand. Flop came J high. two clubs. He checked and I made a standard looking bet. I knew he was going to check raise me so I didn't want to bet too high. He then made it 8k. I looked at him and went all in. He thought about it and folded. That then put me on a healthy stack of 40k. He got some back later when he raised all in preflop and I called him with AK. He had AQ and hit his Q.

A little later a new player came to Joe's seat - Joe hadtried to push from position but got called by Patric with pocket nines which seemed a strange call as Patric was the meat in the sandwich. But the nines held. The new player liked to see flops and although he had a large stack he was a bit of a calling station. It was against this player that I found A7 in the cut off ... and I raised his BB. He duly called. Flop came ten high two spades. He checked I bet 4k. He re-raised to 8k and I called. The lovely J spades came. I had the nuts. It was then a question of putting on an act to make sure he called my all in. He did and I was up to 72k which unfortunately would be my high water mark for the tournament.

Later the dealer of that hand caught up with me and said that I had taught him something on that hand. He thought if the TV cameras were on it everyone would know my name. Best acting I'd done in years LOL.

I then went on a little spree of hands where every time I made a move to raise it got reraised and I had to fold. So I ended Day one on 55k and in about 19th place [or tied 15th]

Day 2. First thing I was told was that I'd be going on the TV table... So I had half an eye to that table so that I didn't get involved with marginal hands if and when they called me over. But it never happened. Partly because the policy seemed to be to get a steady flow of faces on there and Karl though I'd be hanging around for a while as I'm pretty rock steady in these long runners. I had a feeling then that things might go wrong and they did in spectacular fashion.


I was moved to a new table as ours was broken. At the time Paul Dooley had around 30k. And I had 60k. I had had pocket Jacks in the SB and it was folded around to me. The BB didn't want to play when I raised him so I made f' all. That was the only hand of note I'd seen. So I was folding a lot and had hoped I created a rock image.

A pot developed with five limpers and I was one before the cut off. Flop 9J9 and I held Q 10. So with OESD I bet out 3k [Blinds 600 / 1200 6.9k in pot] It came back to Dooley on the SB and I could tell he thought I was at it and he made it 9k. I put him on a pocket pair... He didn't seem to consider I might have a jack or a nine but I think he was surprised I called and I could see in his face that he wasn't happy at the call. An eight came giving me the straight. He pushed for ten and now I wondered did he have the nine after all. I could get away from the straight... and I had ruled out him holding J9 preflop. What he actually had... as he called me in a shot... Was 88. He had hit a house on the turn. Any other card on the turn and I would have had him folding.

A little later, maybe only four hands I find QQ UTG + 1 I raise it and the player to my left calls with 95 ???? and Dooley calls with pocket tens. I'm down to 16k. I push all in on the nine high flop. They both call. I'm delighted to find I'm ahead expecting KK or AA from at least one of them. If I win this I'm back in the game with around 50k. But the ten on the turn shatters my dream for this year. And I'm gone.

A great tourney... Pleased with my play... I don't think I did too much wrong except I could have re-raised Dooleys 9k and surely he would have folded...

Ah well always next year.

kebabfest

Great Reports BCB ( luved the move with the J2) and 5Star.
It was some event. As Dan Harrington said when asked about next year
" They better get a bigger hall "

PiperT

I don't have the time or enthusiasm to write a detailed report like BCB's but I'll give a brief synopsis of my IO.

I had a great Day 1 in this event. I started with Padraig Parkinson on my table and apart from the poker I have to say we had a laugh. Joe O'Neill was on the table behind us and Padraig turns to him and says "are you talking to somebody thats deaf ?". It really added to the enjoyment of the tournament. I played some great poker in the first few levels even if I do say so myself. I was getting cards but also made some moves where I could sense weakness and/or steals.

Padraig P was moved to another table and soon after Scott Gray and Mike Sexton were moved to my table after the breakup of the feature table. I have to say it was a pleasure playing with these guys. It was hard to get any chips out of them but at the same time they respected a lot of my raises and re-raises so this in itself gave me a lot of confidence. Although I did decide that I was only playing back at these guys with the goods.

I think for the whole of day 1 I lost two pots that I was involved in. One with AK vs AJ (J flop, A turn) which would have had me up to 45k in chips at the end of play. The other was a small sb vs bb pot. So in essence I didn't do a whole lot wrong and I ended the day on 32k.

My starting table was of a very high standard with the exception of one Italian fruitcake who was an Ace Rag merchant. It was only a matter of time and I duely obliged by taking a huge chunk of his stack and somebody else finished him off.

Day 2 was a disaster for me. I had been moved to a new table in the last 15 minutes of Day 1. I had Alan Betson, Carlos Citrone and a few other scandies at my table. I check them out on the Hendon Mob players database when I got home to see who I was playing with and what their history was. My gameplan was out the window literally within 15 minutes of the start. I had the old PPP (JCB) shirt on and I'm sure I was targeted as an Internet qualifier. My blinds were being whipped off and everytime I open raised a pot it was re-raised by the scandie to my immediate left. My stack was depleting at quite a pace and I guess I was beginning to panic. KarlH (PPP) had also just tapped me on the shoulder and asked me if I would move to the TV table if they lost a player and I instantly said yes. Afterwards I began to say to myself, **** do I really want to play on the TV table (Dan Harrington, Padraig, Mike Sexton and our own PPP Special were all on it with that Elvis impersonator guy).

Anyway, the TV table thing didn't reallt matter coz I literally blew up in the next few minutes. Its folded to me in the small blind. I look down at K6o and decide to make a raise to take the blinds & antes which were healthy enough at this point and certainly worth stealing. Of course, I should have known, my scandie friend in the BB comes back over the top. Now I'm certain he is defending and convince myself that he has nothing. I am also fed up as he has snapped off almost all of my raises so far at the table. Actually I was fuming. I came back over the top all-in (I know) hoping he wasn't strong enough to call - of course I didn't want a call. He has KK and its lights out. I was inconsoleable and couldn't even bear to talk to anybody after it. I'm sure they all thought I was a muppet after I had left the table and I certainly felt like one.

So, whilst I was disgusted and somewhat embarrassed by my exit I must say it was a fantastic experience to play in this tournament. I am delighted for Noel (BCB), Peter (Halfbaked), Nicky Power and his mate The Fox and of course all of the Irish players that went deep in this. I don't know Marty Smith but fair play to him on a tasty payday.

That runner runner flush was simply brutal for the fox. My heart went out to him.

So its back to the grindstone now. See you guys at the tables.

rag2gar

PiperT wrote:

I was inconsoleable and couldn't even bear to talk to anybody after it. I'm sure they all thought I was a muppet after I had left the table and I certainly felt like one

Love your honesty here Tim. So few people can give a human account of how they REALLY feel.....

Interesting read as always

smurph

My Irish open report is short, sweet and straight to the point. Firstly I arrive to my table, don't know anyone at it except conor smyth and a guy from the Fitz and Mark Strachan, with whom I have a bit of history with in Tournamenet, and it never ends well for me. Im in seat 1, in seat 2 is a guy who asks me if his wife can sit beside him as she is pregnant and not well, fair enough..... What am I supposed to say, im not that much of a heartless cow. In level 1 i see pocket aces 3 times, and pick up the blinds, 25 50 I raise to 150, 175 and 225, and get no one to play:mad: :mad:

Level 2 I get AK 3 or 4 times, and get destroyed twice with them, and i get the feeling that it's not going to be my day...... Don't panic i keep saying to myself. I get QJ suited in the sb, I complete and it is myself and the BB in the pot. Flop comes down A Q 2 i bet 500, flat called by BB, turn is J and giving me 2 pair, I bet 1.5K and he goes all in for 12K??? WTF, the only hand he could have is K10, I fold, not going to get involved early on. but for the premium cards i was picking up and I have 7.5 K. what the f**k is going. Guy in seat 2 is playing with and K any ace and has won big pots with A8off. He will stay 80% of the time to any re-raise. 20 minute break and im still scatching my head trying to figure out how can i have 7.5k.

My departing hand goes like this, im in the SB and pick up AsKd, blinds are 150, 300 and it is made 800 to go by Mark Strahan, so I decide to flat call, because im not going to play AK out of position, BB stays for the raise.

Flop comes down 7s 8s Js, I check BB checks mark checks,
Turn comes down Ah, giving me Top pair top kicker and nut flush draw, I check BB checks, mark bets 3k I re-raise all in to 9.5k, and the BB re-raises all in (22K) Sh**t.....
Mark folds and BB turns over Ks5s for the flush, and no miracle spade for me on the river..... I felt that even if i re-raised mark strahans raise preflop the BB was still going to call. Anyway never got going......



1K Side event
What can I say about this game, Wes farrell was at my table. Beside Wes was an absolute obnoxious pr**k of an american, who gave out non stop about the structure, the Main event, saying thats typical irish this typical irish that. Anyway the american gets involved early on with a good danish player, and wes Called clock on him, then the fireworks began. The guy went ballistic. Shortly afterwards Wes got moved to another table, then the American started calling Wes an Irish Faggat and a c**t, so I got involved big time. Explained to him that if he had a problem with the event take it up with Paddy Power Poker, and stop slagging off Irish people, he didn't get the message, so I knocked him out of a hand within 5 minutes, and got thanked by everyone at the table.

My BB is an absolutely mental scandanavian guy, who played with all low suited connectors, gapped connectors up to and 8 and most A rags etc,. He re-raised every raise, had showed 3 5 off suit 3 times to take big pots, biggest one was when he stayed for a healthy raise and knocked a player out on a A 3 5 rainbow flop (opponent had AK:eek: )
I have my stack up to 12K after making a play against another scandie. I have 9s9d and make it 500 to go, blinds are 50, 100 he calls, Flop comes down 10h 3s 2h, I bet 1k he calls, Turn is 3h, I bet 1K he makes it 2.5k, so I start thinking, looking at him, he doesn't look that comfortable, I reckon he has 10, and is betting to see where he stands, so I re-raise all in for and extra 5k to him, after about 4mins he folds, I show him my pocket 9's and he goes bright pink, and tilts himself outta the tournament within 3 hands.

So then I deliver the best Bad Beat ive done on anyone ever. I have JsJh on the Button, blinds are 100 200 and its folded around to me, I make it 800 to go SB (lunatic Scandie from above) makes it 2.4K (17K behind) which is the normal, BB folds, back to me, with his card range, I decide that I cannot let him see a flop, so I re-raise all for 15K, he calls instantly saying he has pocket Aces, and duly turns over AcAh. I know it was an aggresive move by me, but you have to play back at these players, or they'll run all over you. Flop comes down 7c9c2c I know now im screwd, i have 1 out, turn is 10d, oh look i now have 4 outs, an the magic 8s comes on the river to give me the straight to the Jack, I have to go behind a pillar and jump up and down for about a minute. I return to collect my chips, up to 30K yepee, then I take the remainder of his chips when he goes all in with KJ offsuit against my AK. So by the first break when the average is 9K I have 34 K and im flying. After the break our table gets broken, and I move to a much tougher table, by far. I get involved early on My AKsuited doubles up a stack for 10K, another short stack goes all in for 12K with Pocket 3's and i get AKsuited again and donate money to him, ugh..... Suddenly im on 12K and short stacked myself, I eventually get it all in with Ah2h on a board of 3h5h 7s, the other player had pocket 4's, and that's all she wrote......Great weekend and great atmosphere with all the irish poker players getting behind the irish lads big time.

There is a rumour that next year is a 5K entry fee with it being capped at 1,000 runners, and 4million guaranteed by paddy power. Don't know how true that is. They'll have to move it to the RDS or somewhere else....... Anyway, great showing by Nicky and all the irish lads..... pity the final table was only highlights.

insafehands

rag2gar wrote:

Love your honesty here Tim. So few people can give a human account of how they REALLY feel.....

Interesting read as always

How'd you get on man? Did you end up finding a sat or play the 1k?

smurph wrote:

so I knocked him out

I genuinely thought that was going to continue "...and security came and escorted me out..."

pok3rplaya

[report] I cleared 1.4k in the cash games. [/report].

El Stuntman

pfft Smurph, cracking someone's aces with jacks is hardly your 'best bad beat ever'. Do it with 83off for added points....

I like the the image of you jumping up and down for a minute behind a pillar though!

kincsem

My very short report -

I paid €3500 cash. I was in seat 1 (awkward). You never know if seats 8 and 9 have acted. In seat 3 Surindar Sunar, and in seat 7 Julian Thew.

For the first two hours I won with KK (I raised, no callers); won with QQ (I raised, one caller, low flop,); lost with TT (raised, called, bad flop & river, so folded); lost with 99 (I raised to 300; seat 5 made it 1500; I folded, he shower me AA, thanks). I had my 10,000 starting stack exactly coming up to the two hour break, lost 1100 last hand, and lost about 1500 just after the break.
From there I couldn't get anything playable, and the raising was heavy. On a flop of AJ* I bet against two players with K9o and took it. It was that bad.
One player bet 8000 to Surindar Sunar on a 2467Q mixed suit board, and when he won showed K3.

I was out at about 23:00 when I put in my last 1100 with KQo and the button called with AA.

On Saturday when watching the third round of the Masters golf I saw that Retief Goosen had finished with a 70 (8 behind leaders in 23rd place). Winds of 20 to 30 mph were forecast, and most of the players had only started their third round. I bet about €100 on Goosen mostly at 120/1 (some 250/1). In the fourth round Goosen started in 8th place four shots behind, was four under par for the first nine and took the lead. When he got to the 12th green I sold my bets on Betfair and made a profit of €3,000.

€200 Monday
I was not going to rebuy. The table was wild. Max Pescatori was on my left.
The only hand I won I called in mid-position with A4 hearts, flop 44T, first to speak went all-in with a ten. I won that and got to the break with about 6500 (starting 4000). No cards again. Finally all-in with 34 hearts for 2500. Called with J9. Exit.

smurph

El Stuntman wrote:

pfft Smurph, cracking someone's aces with jacks is hardly your 'best bad beat ever'. Do it with 83off for added points....

I like the the image of you jumping up and down for a minute behind a pillar though!

Yeah but when he's holding the Ac and the flop comes down with three clubs, and you get runner runner, non club cards to hit a straight, now thats impressive......:D .......

5starpool

kincsem wrote:

My very short report -

I paid €3500 cash. I was in seat 1 (awkward). You never know if seats 8 and 9 have acted. In seat 3 Surindar Sunar, and in seat 7 Julian Thew.

For the first two hours I won with KK (I raised, no callers); won with QQ (I raised, one caller, low flop,); lost with TT (raised, called, bad flop & river, so folded); lost with 99 (I raised to 300; seat 5 made it 1500; I folded, he shower me AA, thanks). I had my 10,000 starting stack exactly coming up to the two hour break, lost 1100 last hand, and lost about 1500 just after the break.
From there I couldn't get anything playable, and the raising was heavy. On a flop of AJ* I bet against two players with K9o and took it. It was that bad.
One player bet 8000 to Surindar Sunar on a 2467Q mixed suit board, and when he won showed K3.

I was out at about 23:00 when I put in my last 1100 with KQo and the button called with AA.

On Saturday when watching the third round of the Masters golf I saw that Retief Goosen had finished with a 70 (8 behind leaders in 23rd place). Winds of 20 to 30 mph were forecast, and most of the players had only started their third round. I bet about €100 on Goosen mostly at 120/1 (some 250/1). In the fourth round Goosen started in 8th place four shots behind, was four under par for the first nine and took the lead. When he got to the 12th green I sold my bets on Betfair and made a profit of €3,000.

€200 Monday
I was not going to rebuy. The table was wild. Max Pescatori was on my left.
The only hand I won I called in mid-position with A4 hearts, flop 44T, first to speak went all-in with a ten. I won that. I got to the break with about 6500 (starting 4000). No cards again. Finally all-in with 34 hearts for 2500. Called with J9. Exit.

Nice wheeling and dealing 'Arfur'.

Gholimoli

Day 1:
started day 1 on a table full of unknowns.
didnt even know one person from my table .
couple of PPP quilifers and the rest mostly young ppl.
i was on seat 8.
i soon found out that my table was really tight bar one player on seat 2.
i was playing really tight my self.i was trying to figure out where my chips were going to come from.
dude on seat 6 i thought initially,not cuz he was a donkey but he was gambling more than others.
there was no one on the table at all that i would call a total tard but no one that was very good either.
mostly they were playing tight.
the loosey on seat 2 managed to get him self a very good stack and nearly doubled up by the end level 1 or so ,he was playing loose and couple of others payed him off when they couldnt lay down their KK,AA .
i got involved with in a couple of pots with seat 2 where i raised with Ak,AQ and had to give up on the turn after he called my Cbet on the flop.
i was down to 8900 at this stage .
then i got AA and raised and every one folded.
i noticed that i had been playing too tight.
i decided to open up a bit.
few hand later my first real hand happend.
we were in level 2 blinds 50/100
i limp UTG with QQ.
i was not planning to come over the top of raise but i was planning of just calling raises .

one other lad calls and dude on seat 6 SB makes it 500.
i call and its HU between us.

flop(1100)
T 7 3
he bets 700 and i call.
turn (2500)
7
he bets 700 and i call again.
river(3900)
5
he bets 1200 and i call again.
i was thinking maybe i should have raised at some stage here but after a while i thought i played it fine.
he had JJ and i won the pot but he would have played AA,KK the same way and i knew he had better than the T on the board.

so i get up to 12K or so and decide to open up my game.
Jay O'Tool then gets moved to my table and he is BB to my button,.
i raise a few orbits and take the blinds.
on the thirs orbit on the CO i make it 600 with As5s(blinds 100/200) and the button who was playing tight calls my raise.
flop comes 2h 3d 6s .
i bet 800,button makes it 1800.
i think about it for a while and then think he does not have much of a hand ,he may have something like 88,99,TT and think he cant possibly stand a 3bet here.
i then make it 4800 and he folds.
i show the bluff and move on.
nothing much else happend on this table but i think i left this table with 15K or so.

Table two:
this table i had two huge stacks to my direct left.
i had seen the two of them in Drogheda before ,one them was ok and other was a typical Drogheda player.
i didnt get that many hands here and just played a few pots in position and took the pots down with bets when it was checked to me.
i managed to get my stack up to 24K or so purely by playing small ball.

table 3:
this was by far my thoughest table.
the funny thing is bar one pot i thought i played my best poker on this table.

i had to scandies to my left with huge stacks.
one of them had came 4th in EPT montecarlo last week(blond fallow) and i knew he was a good player.
the other one was his mate.
when i sat down the blondy checked my stack and i was like "oh **** ,leave my alone " .
the very first hand i played on that table was as fallows:
im on the SB with 78o.

blond scandy limps UTG,and its folded to me and i complete and BB checks so 3 of us see a flop of JJ2.
i check,BB checks,and Scandi bets 1700 in to 2400 pot.
im there like,yeah right,poker is very easy ,limp UTG with any two and then bet and take the pot when its checked to you,Feck off.
i called the bet with the intention of betting out on the turn.
turn comes a brick and i bet out 2.5K and he folds instanly .

the amount of hands i got on this table was unreal after that.
few hands later i get AK and i raise ,and the other scandi calls.
flop comes A high and i take the pot after he check folds.

couple of hands later im on the button with AKs ,UTG makes it 2K and i make it 6K and every one folds.

few hands later i get AA,EP raiser very tight makes it 2K.
i flat call hoping for one of the scandies to squeez.
he duly obliges and makes it 8K.
EP folds and its back to me and i shove.
he folds instanly.

few hands later came a hand which i played horibly and the scandi played perfect (the focker).

after being extreamly active on the table due to some very good run of cards,i get KK in EP.
i make it 2K and the other Scandi makes it 6K.
i have about 30K and he covers.
its folded back to me and i flat call with the intension of check raising a good flop.
flop comes Q T 2 rainbow.
i check and the the scandi checks behinf after a minute.

turn comes a J putting a spade flush draw there.

now i some how think i only have about 20K or so and i say "all in".
as soon as i say it i reliaze what ive done.
i start ****ting my self saying OMG what the fock was that.
his play matched AK perfectly and he could have easily had two pair/set on that board.
i was also behind AA as well so all and all i thought my play was horrible.
he started thinking about it for a while which told me he doesnt have AK.
then he started thinking some more and im there like oh fock has he got two pair and now he thinks i have AK.
he counted the 30K bet and really almost called me.
he took about 10 minuts and im not joking and during this time he very nearly called twice and eventually showed AQ and folded.
i didnt show but tapped the table to tell him it was a good fold.
this was the hand that i was really disgusted with the way i played.
i think if i lead the flop he would have at the very least called me.
my all in was just a total donk move.

i like my flat calling pre-flop and seen as i was very active on the table i think checking to him was also ok but i must have been a tell bag for him to check behind there.
i think he played the hand very well.

any way i was up to about 38 or so and flaying untill this hand happend.

EP makes it 2K and i aksed him how much he has left and he says 16K ,i have AhTh in the SB and decide to flat call.
BB who i have not yet seen play a hand calls also.

flop is J 7 5.
i lead 4K in to 6K pot and BB calls with the original raiser still to act.
he folds.

turn is K and i check and he checks behind.

river is another J and i bet 8K and he calls with 75o declaring two pair.
that was pretty much all that happend on day one.

Day 2:
i have 24K and decide to get busy very soon.
after paying a round of blinds or so im down to about 21K or so and then its folded to me on the SB.
i look donw at T9.
blinds are 400/800 and i makes it 2400.
BB then makes it 5K and im thought he just wasnt to make a play at me cuz it was folded to me and i raised.
so i thought for a while and pushed.
he called instantly with AQ.
flop comes K T 2 ,and a J on the turn has me packing.

i think it was a moment of madness to be honest but i dont regret it that much.i decided that i was going to get a big stack early on day two or go home and T9 HU seemed as good a hand as any.
over all i thought i played well bar one hand on day one.
my reads were spot on and a won alot of pots with not having even a pair in my hand which is always a good feeling.

phantom_lord

My table had a three paddy power bowlers and a poker stars guy, hohum, should be soft enough I thought. Scandie kid on my right.

There another scandie guy two seats to his right, whom I got the impression was pretty well known in his homeland. A guy (was on the feature table, called a shove with 77 against kqo) moved to our table later all called his all-in, joking that he could tell his friends back home about who he knocked out.

He appeared to be the best player on the table, and was involved more so than anyone else.

At least I had position on them both.

With one seat left, Mickey Wernick appeared asking was this table 57, I was after watching this guy on tv only last week in the William Hill Grand Prix heats! Surprisingly he played like a complete fish donating his stack.

The table was ridiculously tight, ppp guy at the end didn’t play a hand for two hours, then raised AA, and showed, called a raise oop and donk bet a j high flop and showed aj, pretty much showed every hand he played confirming his nitty image!

I made a silly bluff early on, that got called down and I had to show 106o, :rolleyes:, I felt like a giant tell bag while the guy dwelt up, over the day I got more relaxed at the table however.

I won a couple of small limped pots at the low levels. Scandie kid beside me opened and I called with aq, pokerstars dude 3bet it, I looked at him, thought this was a prefect spot for him to 3bet light and considered playing back, before folding. Pretty good fold I reckon, that was pretty much the only raise he made all day!

QQ at the 50/100 level, scandie opens to 350 I think, I popped it to 1k, he called.
We checked down a kkjxx board and he called my 1200 river bet. I moved up to about 13.5k at this stage.

Nothing really happened after that, I flopped top set with QQ and JJ but got no action.

I raised with QQ, pokerstars dude calls, as the flop is being dealt I notice that he's watching me, I stare back at him, as the flop sits on the table for a good 5-10secs, I laugh at the absurdity of the situation look at the Q-high flop, bet and he folds. scandie pro asks what kinda poker face is that :rolleyes:

There was a hand at the 100/200 level where I limped a8o behind several others, flop of qq8 was checked around to me, I bet 800 into 1k pot, Mickey Wernick called and shoved a blank turn for 2.3k, I folded, but thinking about this hand afterwards, I think I maybe should have called.

Probably the only interesting hand of the day was where Wernick raised, scandie kid called, Wernick checked an 10 high board, kid bet, gets c/r, kid moves all in, Wernick folds and is shown an 8. boom!

Kinda funny for me as watching it I thought that’s how it was gonna play out!

Wernick was visibly shaken after the hand and didn’t really last that much longer.

When we were going from 100/200 to the 150/300, due to a row of tight playters being to my left I started opening as many pots as possible regardless of the cards, once or twice people dwelt up, and I sat there thinking, ****, what do I have, taking a quick peek at 92o when they folded

Frenchie dude at the bottom of the table was beginning to have enough of me and started 3betting me, I folded a couple of times, then called with k5sooooted intending to shove over his flop bet, he bet out a Q high flop, I didn’t feel so good about following through and just folded.

I probably should have started4 betting him, but I had complete trash all the time and it would have been for most of stack.

Pretty card dead, but kept up open raising as much as possible, a couple hands went against me and was down to just over 10k, guy who didn’t play a hand for two hours raised, and I looked down at ako on my sb and decided I was going all the way with it. Repopped his bet to 3k., he called slowly, j high flop and I went to bet out, checked my stack and had just over a psb left so just shoved.

He thought about it, asked how much it was etc, before folding. Later at the break he ran up to me as I went to head off and asked me did I bluff him, he had tens but put me on a bigger pair etc etc.

I get a couple of raises snapped off just before we break tables and I’m down to about 12.5k when I end up on bcb table.

At this point I was pretty frustrated and how the day was going, there was no action on my first table and no chance to get going and build a stack, I had less chips than two hours ago. So I was a little tilty.

First hand I open raise 108o, I get reraised and a guy cold calls behind, EZ FOLD! First guy has jj second kk.

On the button with j4sooooted, co raises, I 3bet and take it down.

Two hands later I get QQ, which looks absolutely huge to me I’ve been so card dead. No AA/kk all day

Guy opens to 1.5k, I make it 4.2k, he ships his last few k in and I call. He stands up, “blah blah, probably going home”, I look at the table and my heart sinks as he throws over bullets, cnut.

I have about 3k left with the blinds at the end of the 150/300 levels. Balls.

Fold my bb to a raise, my button is raised and I have a7o, I think about it for awhile before folding, I then open shove some thrash and pick up the blinds, a6o and I ship it again, bcb folds his bb.

Up to 4.2k, open shove k10o and run into bullets. Boom.


Pretty disappointed at the whole day, I still feel like I didn’t play at all, never got going at all. Ah well.

rag2gar

Irish open review with a twist

Me, the Magician and the Posh & Becks of poker

Its been Interesting times of late with the Irish Open swinging into town, along with the entire poker circus to boot. Players from all around the world came to play in what is perhaps the most fun tourney in the world. I was there mainly reporting for Bluff magazine but also taking in the atmosphere of the Burlington and the general hustle and bustle of the Irish Open. I didn’t have the dough to participate in any form, (maybe next year if I can improve somewhat in the meantime). I did get a shot of some poker in the media tournament, a nice addition to the calendar of events, kudos to Powers indeed. With one ticket up for grabs it was both fun and potentially very rewarding for one player. Con Murphy off the tele being the eventual victor. No sign of him in the tournament, either an early exit or he was living up to his name and cashed in for the reported €6,000 tout asking price.

The weekend was largely uneventful, watching the play, doing the odd interview and chatting with players and dealers. I was trying to get interesting stories and tales for my piece in Bluff. The action really kicked off however when the editor of Bluff Europe popped in to see how I was getting on with my reporting. Panic… I’ve written nothing, interviewed feck all and have lost the general direction of what’s going on with the tourney at hand! Thankfully though he is a gent (hopefully he’s reading this) and didn’t come to heckle me, berate me and claim, “I must try harder”. Instead, he had come to tell me his big plans for tonight’s festivities and how I was an integral part of the operation. Things have just got interesting I thought.

“You know where Lillie Bordellos is right?”

Well I know it I thought. In a sort of way you know Bono is Irish but you don’t know where he grew up kind of way. Now is not the time to show weakness methinks and I nod quite intelligently in an “I’ve spent most of my youth there” sort of way. The shoe was very much on the other foot as the head honcho of Bluff walked away believing my sentiments at face value. I ponder how the night might pan out.

With the Irish Open done and dusted and the celebration continuing in the residents’ bar for the foreseeable future, off I wonder into the moonlight to meet up with the Bluff lads. Me doing the most wool-pulling-over-eyes they could ever imagine. The doormen of the “night-club of the rich and famous” were surprisingly less daunting than I had imagined. With very few questions asked I wonder in, seeking a bit of familiarity and re-assurance in the most unconventional quarters imaginable. Mingling around the floor I try to fit in with the luxurious, perhaps pretentious setting. A difficult task for sure. Finally I find my boss, relief at last. The night will surely settle down to a normal level and I will get back the “comfort feeling” of familiar surroundings. “Have you met Phil, Jennifer and Antonio yet?”

So there I am chatting with three of the biggest names in poker in Lillies. Surreal. The most bizarre aspect is how nice all three are. They really are humble, decent, friendly folks. Within ten minutes I was joking with them like I would with a couple of lads down the Jackpot. It was all a bit dreamy and unrealistic to be honest. I thought it would be a lot more “Who the hell is this guy?” Antonio brought his whole family out for the evening. His dad is particularly mental and acts the youngest of the family trio. His bro is pretty laid back and doesn’t even play on Ultimate bet where he could surely have a balance of infinity if so wished. He wants to do his own thing.

Phil and Jennifer are most definitely the happy couple of poker. They look like celebrities (and perhaps are?) and they have that aura about them that made me feel a little out of place. I felt like the paddy who got invited to a party he shouldn’t have. But they’re not to blame; it’s my own inhabitants when dealing with such people. Needless to say though it was an interesting night. It reminded me of the time I snuck into the premier of Alexander with Colin Farrell and Angelina Jolie in the Savoy.

But that’s another story for another day..........

http://www.pokerireland.ie/index.php/special_interest/article_entry/me_the_magician_and_the_posh_and_becks_of_poker/

Flushdraw

My Irish Open experience wasnt a very memeroable one.

I was extremely happy with my table draw. No big names, no aggresive scandies, no-one that i was worried about. I was drawn in seat 9. I have a tight PPP qualifier in seat 10, Vera Duffy in seat 1 and Dave from the jackpot in seat 2 so i could play my position quite comfortably.

Willow was also at my table, but although quite tricky, i'd decided to stay out of pots she raised if i didnt have a hand because i felt there was enough value for both of us at the table.I know her game quite well, so it was better to have her at the table, than a substitute aggressor that i didnt know. I did target Frank Callaghans BB quite a bit and with Willow in his small blind, she did have to give up quite a bit. Frank would call a few of my raises but give up on the flop so i found him quite easy money. On my immediate right i had a dutch guy that was weak aggresive and had a number of his raises snapped off, and to his right, another PPP qualifier who was a bit of a calling station but had no real aggresion in him so no real danger coming from that side and as a result my blinds were never in too much danger. I did leak some chips calling raises OOP and having to give up to me being reraised on flops etc but i'd set my stall out to play aggresive poker so throwing away 2-3k on bluffs comes with the territory

In fairness, i probably couldnt have hand picked a better table.

As far as hands and chip stacks go, i never dropped below my starting stack of 10k until the last hour of the 1st day. There was a lot of open limping so i raised when in position to pick up blinds and if called, i usually took it down with a c. bet bar the odd occasion. If i had of picked up some hands during this time, i'd have been able to accumulate a decent stack.

I played my 2 worst hands of the tournament consecutively. I was after raising the last 2 hands and didnt show any cards, so after 2 limpers for 200, i limped on the button with 6d4d to keep my momentum going! There was 5 to a flop that came down Jd8d3x. Checked around to PPP qualifier in seat 7 who bet 400, i make it 1100 to go. Folded to him and he calls.

Turn is an offsuit 2 and he checks, i fire out 1800, he calls. River is a 7 and he checks. He has 5k behind. I bet 3500 and he calls. I muck my cards and so does he! Never even got to see what he had.

Next hand i call a raise with As10s. Flop is Qs5s4x. I check call the flop and decent sized turn bet and catch an ace of the river to pick up a few chips. Played it like a donk but got lucky.

A couple of hands later i get KK. 1 limper for 200 so i make it 1000 to go. Early limper calls. Flop is 995. He bets 1k, i make it 3500 and he goes allin for 7k. I call and he has JJ and catches a J on the river.

I'm back to starting stack again. A bit of yoyo poker follows and i get as high as 18k again and then drop to 12k after i have to lay down top 2 pair to an allin bet after the river completes a flush draw. We're into the last level of the night now and blinds are 400/800/50. MrPT has been moved into the button to my BB. We only clashed once, where he made it 2k and i repopped to 6k with 1010. I dont mind having MrPT here, i enjoy the way he plays and was looking forward to a battle. I've built back up to 16k when my killer hand happens

Theres 20 mins to go for the night and i'm already planning my strategy for tomorrow. Then i get AA UTG. I make it 2400 to go. A quick call from a player in MP and the BB also calls. Flop is J92. BB checks and i lead for 7k. MP goes allin for 5k more. BB folds and ation on me. Disaster. He has 1 of 2 hands. JJ or KK. I ask him has he got JJ and he just smiles. I contemplate folding as i'm 90% sure he has JJ and i'm drawing very thin. I'm 10% hoping he has KK and the deciding factor in my calling was based on the fact he'd play KK and maybe QQ the same way. So after about 5 minute of thinking and deciding that i cant come back tomorrow with 6k i make a crying call and he flips over JJ and no help for me, means i'm down to just over 1k.

I get back to 6.5k in the 10 minutes and then Willow raises to 3k and i have KQ in the BB. I feel that i'm in decent shape against Willows range so i push. She'd showed KJ on her last 2 raises. She calls with A10 and no help from the board and i'm sent packing in 240th place or so. I thought i played pretty well and was quite comfortable throughout the day. I wasnt blessed with many big hands during the 7 or 8 hours but when i did get some, i got KK and AA cracked by JJ. If either of them hold up, i'm coming back the 2nd day with a nice stack and feeling very confident. Its a shame that the poker Gods decide to wait til i play a €3500 buyin before letting me get outdrawn on 2 80-20 shots! Cest la vie!

ditpoker

phantom_lord wrote:

Wernick was visibly shaken after the hand and didn’t really last that much longer.

i've dealt to wernick at about 4-5 tourneys now and i really do not rate him. I'm just after checking his profile on hendonmob.com and he has made $600,000+ since 2000 but the amount of tourney's he plays in his expenditure must be HOOOOJE!

maybe i'm wrong but i dont get micky wernick.

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

not in the mood to post full report, still depressed with a poor weekend of poker for me and besides a full update will follow on the website as it should be up later this week.

Main Event
Went out in 270th place with about 10 mins to go on day 1 after playing the guts of 10 hours and only finding qq, kk and 88 with the rest pure garbage. The highest i had my stack at was about 15k but unfortuneatly i mostly played (sorry survived) my stack around 5k to 9k, i find k5c in the SB and it is folded around to me, i complete for the other 400 and the BB checks, flop comes 3c 4c 6h and i bet 1.8k leaving me with 5k behind bb makes it 5k and i dwell up for a few minutes and push the lot to a call hoping to hit one of my 16 outs, and to no avail with bb picking up 2 pair with 64o. Gutted i went out but shows you need the rub of the green to go deep in one of these.

Played the 1k event after much deliberation with poor showing in ME and poor structure etc etc. 2 sick hands send me packing and i go out 404th out 414th place probably the worst showing in an MTT for me,
Hand 1 - I find KK and raise to 500 i am reraised by loose scandie to 1.2k i think his range is huge but decide to call as we are only a couple of hands into the tourney, flop comes 5 7 2 i lead out for 1k and he calls turn comes a J and i bet for 1.5k and he calls at this stage i am wondering has he hit a set on the flop or bullets so when the river comes a 10 i check and he value bets for 1k to which i call to find to my horror 57o needless to say i was not impressed with this fcuking sh*t and boy did he get a berating re raising me with air:mad: .

Hand 2 - I have about 3.5k left and feeling preety down and i find AA in the BB there are 4 limpers so i decide to make it 700 to go as i want to get this heads up it is folded around to the SB who makes it 1.5k to go i ship the lot as i expect him to call which he does with KJo, flop comes up q 10 9:mad: giving him the straight and me the pleasure of an early finish.

Going to take a few weeks to recover as i am really fcuked off, well done to the waterford lads.

Wreck

Well I've just about recovered so here it is.

Sat down at a pretty good table, Mick Stephens and 'Daisy' from the Fitz were the only players I knew, and quite quickly got a handle on the table. Got no hands for the first level or so but some positional manuevering meant I was up to about 12,500 after about an hour and a half.

I then called a 3bb raise from a tricky lag player in mp on my button with A 10 suited. Flop comes with an ace and I flat call his cb, he checks a 10 on the turn and I bet about 3/4s of the pot, which he quickly calls. River was check check as I felt he could well be slowplaying a set, but he had air. Up to about 16k and starting to feel good.

After the first break I figured it was time to have a proper go at building a stack. 25 mins and no cards later I call in mp with 4 7 suited with the intention of reraising if anyone raised - canadian guy on the button did and duly folded saying he had JJ - a lie if ever I heard one lol.

I then get dealt A Q in late position and decide to punish the 3 limpers with a raise of 5 times the BB. Get one caller, the tricky lag player from earlier who has since doubled up with AA v KK all in prefolp. He checks a 9 high flop, and I stick in a CB and he pushes. Nothing to do but fold there, and again a couple of hands later when my 10 10 can't be any good on AKx flop and action from 2 others. So I'm down to about 11K, but still confident that if I can get some cards I'm in with a shout, and if not I'll go out fighting

And then I get dealt AK on the button. Shortstack in EP who has been very quiet since loosing half his stack with a set to a straight in the very first hand raises to about 1.5 K (he has 2.5K behind). Table chip leader (on about 28k) is directly to my right and he flat calls. This guys has been a complete card rack all day, and has overbet the pot a few times with sets and flushes on the flop, as well as calling very light to the river (where he has inevitably won) - seems really poor tbh and I've been dying to get a hand against him. I decide however not to push with AK and simply flat call.

Flop comes A J 5 rainbow and shorstack pushes for about 2,500. I suddenly realise I'm counting out a call with the chip leader still to act and hope he hasn't noticed (in hindsight I think he did ). He flat calls and I'm certain I'm ahead of him due to his history of overbetting with sets and calling light with draws/low pairs. I think I could be behind the shortstack, putting him on JJ or AJ, so decide to push and hope the other guy calls. He does, saying he think's I have pocket aces but he has to call :eek: and shortstack shows 55, chip leader shows JJ, and thats all she wrote.

I am extremely surprised at how badly I reacted to going out of this, and I'm not joking when I say it took me a while to recover. Can't really explain why, except for the fact that I've been looking forward to it for a few months, and once I got over the first level or so actually started to feel I was in with a shout of going deep. I've been thinking about my exit hand alot, and come to the conclusion that my first and only mistake in the tourney cost me all my chips. I may have overthought this, but I believe the mistake was counting out the call out of turn, rather than the push, because I think its quite likely I would have laid the hand down facing a big raise.

I really enjoyed it though, and it was great to meet some topclass pros like harrington, O'dea, Laak and parkinson - as well as some prominent boardsies. Also, big thanks to Mike from GJP, my girlfriend hates the hoodie but she didn't see the PP shirts lol.

Funniest moment - my exit hand - guys shows his trip jacks and I say 'Thats me then, gl folks' and he says 'No you might still hit an ace' - and he wasn't joking.

Edit: Btw, well done to the lads who cashed, especially those who made the final table, its a great achievement in a field with alot of quality.

Hoki

To begin with i was slightly nervous / excited as this was by far the biggest event i had played in but after a few hands of getting 10 2 off i realised it was just another game of poker and began to settle , was playing pretty tight , only raising with big hands and calling if i hit / flush or straight draws .

Won my 1st pot when it was folded round to my big blind at 25/50 and i look down at 8s 8d , i make it 200 to go and Mickey "calls anything" Wernick calls . Flop came 9h 9c 4d , i feel my 8s are good here so bet out probably a weak 150 , he calls again , turn came 8c filling my house . I check it to him here hoping my weak bet previously would have induced a bet but he checks . River came an alarm ringing 9d , i bet out 275 , he dwells but calls mucking his hand when he sees my house .

Got moved to another table at the beginning of level 2 and for the next level i didnt win a hand , once again i get moved to a new table , with a super aggressive Scandie who raised with atc ( his fav being 4 2 off ) , managed to get my stack going at this table , raised to 600 from the button with Kd 9d (100/200) bb & sb calls , flop came Kh 2d 6c , i bet 450 , sb & bb call again , turn came 7d , they check , i check . River was a glorious Jd making my flush , sb ( scandie ) bets out 1100 , bb raises to 3300 and after eliminating the possibility of a nut flush i go all in for about 6k , they both folded . I follow this up by hitting another flush 3 hands later but didnt get much out of it , stack was up to about 15k but from there it went downhill .

Got moved again when the levels changed to 200/400 to a table with Elvis , Ram Vaswani & Dan Harrington , by now my stack was back below 8k after blowing over 6k on a set of 3s beaten by a straight . Didnt play many hands here as we were getting put onto to the feature table though through loss of blinds and 1 limp in early position i was now really shortstacked at 6.8k .

Tbh i bottled it at the feature table , the occassion got to me and i made 2 notable errors . 1 st was when it was folded round to me on my sb & i had Ac 2d , my move should have been all in , instead i called , Ram raised it up to make my only move all in , however the previous hand he had Aces and for some unknown reason to myself that made me fold . My final error came when i thought it was my bb though it wasnt , my 600 was in the pot so i couldnt get it back , UTG + 2 raises to 3k , iv only just over 3.5 k left and go all in with K 10 , J on the flop knock me out in 306th position bout 40 mins before the end of play on day 1 , i was gutted at how badly i played at that table .

Overall it was a brilliant experience and i learned a lot about what aspects of my game i need to work on , PaddyPower put on a great tournament and all going well il be back to play in it next year . I had De Wolfe backed to win it from the start at 80/1 , was happy at collecting my e/w bet for that at least

rag2gar

Hoki wrote:

I had De Wolfe backed to win it from the start at 80/1 , was happy at collecting my e/w bet for that at least

You shoulda had a llittle bet on Marty when they were heads up to lay it off perhaps, u had a cracking bet of 80/1 at that stage

BigDragon

I interviewed Bob Battersby. End of.

hf4z6sqo7vjngi

lol and how long have you been playing in the irish open........eh.....5 mins later, great interview BD

NickyOD

BigDragon wrote:

I interviewed Bob Battersby. End of.

Has that been Youtubed? Greatest interview in poker history. Bob's in depth analysis of the tournament poker really opened my eyes.